Now I do appreciate, even like hip hop, especially from the 1990s, but I would be overselling myself if I called myself anything close to an expert on the subject. And let's face it, of New York City's five buroughs, Staten Island is probably not the first that springs to mind when it comes to the genre - even though the Wu Tang Clan hails from there, whom I actually a big fan of. Well this series tries to change our perception of the burough, and sure, there was Wu Tang Clan, but they actually weren't the first, there were the Force MCs (later re-christened Force MD's by their record company) in the 1980s, and in 1994 Staten Island also spawned kid rapper Shyheim, to name a few, and while our perception of the area might be that of a suburban neighbourhood, drugs, gang violence and racial tensions also left their mark on the locals, the luckiest ones of whom managed to move on into music ...

... and really the one critique for this first (of three) part of this documentary is that while it does go very much into detail, an avid music fan like myself would love to see even more, especially when it comes to bands not as well-known as the Wu Tang Clan - but having said that, I'm very well aware of the limitations of a documentary in terms of running time, budget and also (let's face it) saleability, and really for what it is it's just great, shedding light on many lesser known aspects of hip hop history, from what I'd call a fan-turned-expert point of view, and I really can't wait for future episodes!

review © by Mike Haberfelner

 

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